Various - Ghost In The Shell (PlayStation Soundtrack)

Ghost in the Shell: Megatech Body Cd

This is a majorly huge techno album. All the tracks are awesome, and the album flows cohesively, building an intense cyber-future soundscape. (It's the perfect counterbalance to the soundtrack to the GiTS movie, which is a really brilliant ambient album.) And the artwork of the poster-style liner-notes is astonishingly detailed manga madness. I first heard about this release from Dan Sicko's book "Techno Rebels", listed as one of the top techno soundtrack albums - an honour it deserves.

There is a bit of confusion as to the identity of the Derrick May track. It is truly indeed "To Be or Not To Be (Off the Cuff Mix)". I own both this album and Derrick May's _Innovator_ album, which has the original mix "To Be or Not To Be". The two are comparable; basically the same track with minor tweaking. (It's more of a remix for audiophiles, rather than a major overhaul type of remix.) I wish I kept a copy of this, but May even spoke in an interview about producing this remix of "To Be or Not To Be" for the video game soundtrack. "Mysterious Traveler" is good tune, but this is not a remix of the System 7/May collaboration at all.

Rating wise, I'd say 5 out of 5 all the way. It's an under-appreciated album. This Sony Jpn compilation holds its own, and is in the same class as classic Tresor compilations.

The 3rd-person shooter video game, by the way, was really good, although unfortunatly released in small numbers. You, as a rookie Section 9 cop, controlled a Fuchikoma police vehicle in environments that kept with the feel of the original movie and manga. The game even featured original animation by Production IG.